Ayanbadejo finished with three tackles, including one sack and two quarterback hits. Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata and rookie free safety Omar Brown also posted sacks of Giants quarterback Eli Manning, and Ayanbadejo tied strong safety James Ihedigbo and defensive tackle Arthur Jones for the team lead in quarterback hits.

Ayanbadejo, whose last sack came a year ago against the Cleveland Browns, credited the defensive line with taking up New York’s blockers and giving him an opening for his sack in the second quarter.

“They left me one-on-one with the running back, who was roughly my size,” he said. “I just beat the running back and went and got the sack. I had to show off that 40-inch vertical that I had when I was 21, when I was at the [NFL] combine. Now I’m 36, and it’s probably only a 39-inch vertical, but I can still get up there and do a little bit of he-man, a little bit of flexing. It’s all good though. It’s nice to get in the stats book.”